Sulaiman et a l. / Malaysian Journa l of Fundamental and Applied Sciences Vol. 14 , No. 1 (2018) 67-72 RESEARCH ARTICLE Seasonal variations of water quality and heavy metals in two ex- mining lake using chemometric assessment approach Nur Hishaam Sulaiman a, Saiful Iskandar Khalit a, *, Zati Sharip b, Mohd Saiful Samsudin a, Azman Azid a a Faculty of Bioresources and Food Industry, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Besut Campus, 22200 Besut, Terengganu, Malaysia b Lake Research Unit, Water Quality and Environment Research Centre, National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia * Corresponding author: [email protected] Article history Abstract Submitted 11 July 2017 Revised 3 October 2017 Industries involving chemical and biological substances have become major economic growth in Accepted 6 December 2017 Malaysia. Mining contribute a lot of benefits such as employment and monetary profit but there are Published online 8 Mac 2018 many associated environmental hazards as well. The purpose of this study is to conduct a preliminary assessment on water quality and heavy metals contents at Puteri Lake and Puchong Lake in Malaysia for better perspective of the emerging issues. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted to analyze the seasonal variation of water quality and heavy metal contents. Based on the PCA results, most of the significant values of variation Varimax Factor (VF) are evidence that several parameters were affected by the temporal variation especially Ammonia Nitrogen (AN) and Total Phosphorus (TP). Dissolved Oxygen (0.8385, 0.9674) and Conductivity (0.9583, 0.8894) also showed significant variation in both lakes, Puteri and Puchong. Heavy metals content analysis at Puteri and Puchong Lake indicates that both lakes had different significant metal elements such as Fe, Zn, Na, Ni and Cu for Puteri Lake with percentage variation of 55.6 percent and As, Pb and Cd for Puchong Lake at 36.1 percent due to the different land use characteristic and history of mining. Water quality and heavy metal variations are due to anthropogenic (mining, construction and domestic waste) and natural processes (erosion, runoff and geological area) of the study areas. This environmental tool provided a more objective interpretation of water pollution status and sources. Therefore a lot of research needs to be carried out to assess the pollution impact of the area on the environment and for rehabilitation and tourism development of the study areas. Keywords: Physico-chemical, lake, mining, water quality, principal component analysis, heavy metal. © 2018 Penerbit UTM Press. All rights reserved INTRODUCTION hectares ex-mining land in the country and most of ot has been converted into useful land (Ashraf, 2010). According to JMG (2008), Historically, mining is one of the oldest industries that have been there are 4909.6 hectares ex-mining land in Selangor and the area under documented in the world. Since a century ago, mankind have been study still need rehabilitation into other purpose. Ex-mining ponds benefited fro m the riches of the earth (Dubiński, 2013). Natural contributed significant freshwater resources amounting an area of more resources have been mined and used by man especially during the than 113,700 ha (Ahmad & Jones, 2013). Some ex-mining ponds such industrial revolution; manufacturing has increase the demand for as Bestari Jaya in Selangor have been identified as alternative water natural resources such as tin, iron and coal (Hudson, 2014). resources pond during drought events (JPBD Selangor, 2015). Other Malaysia is one of the countries rich in natural resources (Haber ex-mining ponds such as the Mines in Sg Besi Selangor, Titiwangsa and Menaldo, 2011). Tin mining was the leading mining industry in Lake in Kuala Lumpur and Taiping Lake Garden in Perak have become Malaysia especially in the 19th century. Mining has contributed a lot of important tourist and recreational destinations in the country. socio-economic development to the communities in Malaysia Mining provide a lot of benefits such as employment and monetary (McMahon and Moreira, 2014). Iron ore mining also contributed to the profit but there are many associated environmental hazards as well. mining industry as it is still operational in many mines all across These may include threats to natural reserves due to landscape changes, Peninsular Malaysia and West Malaysia. Selangor, Perak, Kedah and damage to natural drainage, pollution and destruction and loss of Pahang have undergone mining industry development in decades that natural habitats, arable lands and forest (Sun et al., 2010, Ndace and profit the government and private sectors (Iqbal, 2015). After the Danladi, 2012). Iron ore mining in Liberia has resulted in surface and discovery of natural ore such as tin and iron in Perak, Selangor and ground water pollution resulting from mine tailings and litters (Gleekia, Terengganu, many methods have been used. Panning and open cast 2016). method is being applied at the early stages of the mining industry in The purpose of this study is to assess the water quality and heavy Malaysia. Other methods include lampanning and dredging metal contents of two ex-mining ponds namely Puteri Lake, (Balamurugan, 1991). It is estimated that there are about 210,000 Terengganu and Puchong Lake, Selangor. Additionally the aim is to 67 Sulaiman et a l. / Malaysian Journa l of Fundamental and Applied Sciences Vol. 14 , No. 1 (2018) 67-72 compare the water quality and heavy metal contents to the National dissolved oxygen (DO) and ammoniacal nitrogen (AN)(YSI Lake Water Quality Criteria and Standards, NLWQS (NAHRIM, Multiparameter ). Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) was analysed at 2015). This investigation of water physico- chemical parameters and field using BOD Check instrument. heavy metals of the proposed sites will provide the baseline information of environmental conditions/degradation and pollution. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) In this research, PCA is to extract a set of independent linear EXPERIMENTAL combination of the parameters of the study such as water quality parameters and heavy metals so as to capture the maximum amount of Study area and sampling methods Puteri Lake is situated about 3 km from Bandar Bukit Besi, which variability of a given dataset (Panigrahi et al. 2007). This analysis is located at Dungun District within the range of 4° 44′ 30.0″N 4° 43′ 0″N based on eigenvalue criteria where value >1 is considered as significant lattitude to 103° 10′ 30″E 103° 13′ 0″E longitude (Fig 1). Puchong Lake and a new group of variables built based on the resemblance of the is located at Sepang District within the range of 4° 44′ 30.0″N 4° 43′ entire data set (Mitrea et al. 2013). The PCs generated by PCA are 0″N latitude to 103° 10′ 30″E 103° 13′ 0″E longitude (figure 2). The sometimes not readily interpreted. It is advisable to rotate the PCs by surface areas of Puteri Lake and Puchong Lake are 1.31 and 5.88 km2 varimax rotation to obtain new groups of variables called varimax respectively while their maximum depth are about 15 m and 45 m factors (VFs). The correlation between the VFs and the original respectively. variables is given by the factor loading; while the individual transformed observations are called factor scores (Vega et al., 1998). a) The VF coefficients having a correlation > 0.75 are considered ‘strong’, 0.74 – 0.50 are considered ‘moderate’ and 0.49 – 0.30 are considered ‘weak’ significant factor loadings (Liu et al., 2003). For this study, factor loading >0.75 both positive and negative will be considered (Juahir et al., 2011). Data were statistically calculated and analyzed using the Xlstat version 2014. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Water quality analysis Puteri Lake and Puchong Lake water quality and heavy metals contents were observed for seven months starting from May 2016 until November 2016. The mean values of the water quality are shown in Table 1. In Puteri Lake, the pH levels at the various sampling sites were below the NLWQS threshold limit of 6.5-8.5 while the mean concentration of TP was above the NLWQS threshold limit of 0.01 mg/L for primary contact recreation. In Puchong Lake, BOD, COD and TP concentrations exceeded the threshold limits of the NLWQS indicating pollution by domestic waste from the nearby urbanised areas. b) High BOD and COD concentrations have been reported in other ex- mining lake located in urban areas such as Aman Lake (Sharip et al., 2014). Table 1 Mean values of water quality in Puteri and Puchong Lake. Puteri Lake Puchong Lake Parameter Unit mean±SD mean±SD temperature °C 30.77±1.79 30.55±0.66 pH 3.0±0.17* 7.24±1.79 conductivity mS/cm 798.67±94.92 203.26±22.86 DO percent % 83.15±8.76 123.26±28.46* DO conc mg/l 6.44±0.65 9.22±2.08* salinity % 0.34±0.03 0.08±0.01 s. solid mg/l 0.06±0.06 6.01±1.75 Fig. 1 (a) Puteri Lake (b) Puchong Lake. turbidity NTU 0.29±0.63 12.46±13.84 For water quality study, there are five sampling stations for each COD mg/l 1.26±5.15 12.27±2.58* Puteri Lake and Puchong Lake as indicated in figure 1 and 2. The water BOD mg/l 0.86±0.23 7.68±1.20* samples of both lakes were collected at 0.5m below water surface in both lakes. The water samples were preserved by two ml of nitric acid AN mg/l 0.04±0.11 0.04±0.06 (70%) and stored in an icebox and transported to laboratory for T. Phosphorus mg/l 2.22±6.72* 0.33±0.52* analysis.